39 CASSAVA PRODUCTION and UTILIZATION in CAMBODIA Huang
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39 CASSAVA PRODUCTION AND UTILIZATION IN CAMBODIA Huang Jie1, Seng Srey1, Kang Aun2, Chiv Phiny3, Suon Serey4 and Tian Yinong5 ABSTRACT This paper reviews Cambodian cassava production from 1980 to 2001. Cassava is mainly grown in Kampong Cham province, while some cassava is also grown in areas bordering the Mekong river. The harvested area, yield and production in each year varied according to market conditions: in 1999, the harvested area, yield and production were 14,000 ha, 16.3 t/ha and 228,512 tonnes fresh cassava roots, but in 2001 these were only 13,600 ha, 10.5 t/ha and 142,262 tonnes cassava roots, respectively. Most cassava is used for human food, while little is used for animal feed or for industrial purposes. Some farmers like to produce starch to make bread etc. in their small processing units, or they make dry chips for sale. Farmers in Cambodia are planting only two important local varieties, namely Damlong Me (bitter) and Damlong Chheu (sweet). There are very few areas planted to new varieties and farmers do little land preparation, weeding, fertilization etc. Mong Reththy Plantation introduced Rayong 60 and Kasetsart 50 varieties from Thailand, and they also cultivate by tractor, but the yields are still low because of lack of proper management. There are only three important cassava factories. The designed capacity of Mong Reththy Tapioca Flour Factory and T.T.Y. Tapioca Flour Factory are 50 tonnes starch per day, and the capacity of Lay Alcohol Factory is about 10 million liters of cassava alcohol per year. Because of low prices, difficulties in transportation, the existence of few organizations, such as extension services, that can give technical support for cassava production, the factories have a serious lack of cassava raw material. If in Cambodia the role of cassava can change from a traditional fresh human food to an efficient crop for animal feed and starch production, cassava could become an important source of cash income for poor farmers. It is hoped that cassava can receive more support from the government and other organizations and companies, who should work together to create good market conditions and to improve cassava research and extension in Cambodia. INTRODUCTION Cambodia occupies 181,035 km2, and is located between 102-108°E and 10-15°N. The population of Cambodia is 13.4 million. Cambodia has a tropical climate with two distinct monsoon seasons; the rainy season starts in mid-April and continues to October. Average annual rainfall is 1250-1750 mm. Sihanouk Ville has the highest average annual rainfall of 2996 mm. The mean temperature is about 23-32°C. 1 National School of Agriculture Prek Leap (NSAPL), Phnom Penh, Cambodia; presently at CATAS, Danzhou, Hainan, China. 2 Royal Univ. of Agriculture (RUA),, Phnom Penh, Cambodia. 3 Univ. of Tropical Agriculture (UTA), Phnom Penh, Cambodia. 4 Dept. Agronomy and Agric. Land Improvement, Min. of Agric., Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF), Phnom Penh, Cambodia. 5 Guangxi Subtropical Crops Research Institute (GSCRI), Nanning, Guangxi, China. 40 Agriculture is the fundamental sector of the Cambodian economy. Small farmers dominate the agricultural sector of the country. Most farmers are still poor and face many constraints, both in their production activities and in marketing. Normally, when farmers plant cassava, they use about 100 m-days/ha, equivalent to about 50 US$/ha. Some farmers can get 300-400 US$/ha income from fresh roots in Kandal province, and some farmers can get 500-600 US$/ha income from dry chips in Kampong Cham province. So, cassava is an important economic crop for some poor farmers in Cambodia. Most cassava is used for human food, while little is used for animal feed or for industrial purposes in Cambodia. Farmers like to plant sweet cassava for earning money at the local market; the leaves can be used to feed sheep and cattle. Some fresh roots and dry chips may be sold to factories and small processing units, for production of starch and some favorite tapioca foods. AGRICULTURE 1. Agricultural Production in Cambodia Rice dominates crop production in Cambodia (Table 1). Nearly 90% of the cultivated area is planted to rice, 3% is planted on maize, and nearly 1% is planted to cassava. Table 1. Agricultural production in Cambodia in 2001. Harvested area Yield Production (ha) (t/ha) (t) Rice 1,980,295 2.07 4,099,016 Maize 67,213 2.76 185,589 Soybean 28,687 0.86 24,658 Mungbean 27,108 0.63 17,153 Sesame 17,444 0.51 8,957 Cassava 13,590 10.47 142,262 Peanut 11,271 0.29 8,913 Sweet potato 7,055 3.72 26,252 Sugarcane 7,727 21.91 169,302 Tobacco 8,540 0.55 4,662 Vegetables 34,569 5.34 184,640 Source: MAFF, 2001 2. Cassava Production in Cambodia and Other Asian Countries Cassava production in Cambodian is characterized by low production, low yield and low harvested areas as compared to other countries in Asia (Table 2); it only produces about 0.3% of cassava in Asia. 41 Table 2. Cassava harvested area, yield and production in Cambodia and other countries in Asia in 2001. Harvested area Yield Production (‘000 ha) (t/ha) (‘000 tonnes) World 16,466 10.67 175,617 Asia 3,536 13.66 48,309 -Cambodia 15 9.61 148 -China 235 15.96 3,751 -India 250 23.20 5,800 -Indonesia 1,360 11.62 15,800 -Laos 5 13.65 71 -Malaysia 38 9.74 370 -Myanmar 8 11.39 88 -Phllippines 210 8.09 1,700 -Sri lanka 29 8.82 260 -Thailand 1,150 15.90 18,283 -Vietnam 235 8.67 2,036 Source: FAO, 2001 3. Cassava Production in Cambodia The Cambodian cassava harvested area, yield and production in each year varied according to market conditions (Table 3). The harvested area, yield and production were higher in years of favorable market conditions in 1980, 1981, 1988, 1992 and 1999. The harvested area, yield and production were 14,000 ha, 16.3 t/ha and 228,512 tonnes fresh cassava roots, respectively, in 1999. But when the market was not so good production was markedly reduced, such as in 2001 when the harvested area was only 13,600 ha, the yield was 10.5 t/ha and production was 142,262 tonnes. a. Distribution of cassava production Cambodian cassava is mainly grown in the central and southeastern parts of the country, especially in Kampong Cham and Kampong Thom provinces, while some is also grown along the Mekong river (Figure 1). b. Cassava varieties There are two main local varieties in Cambodia, one is sweet, the other is bitter. Mong Reththy Tapioca (MRT) plantation, located in Sihanouk ville, in southwest Cambodia, introduced Rayong 60 and Kasetsart 50 in 2000. In areas near the border, the farmers introduced some Vietnamese varieties (bitter) in Kampong Cham province, and a Thai company introduced some Thai varieties (bitter) in Battambang province. Because of a lack of extension, and farmers in many provinces having difficulty finding cassava markets for animal feed and industrial raw material, they generally don’t like planting the new bitter varieties; they just want to sell in the local market sweet roots for fresh human consumption. The new varieties are not widely grown yet. 42 Table 3. Cassava area, yield and production in Cambodia from 1980 to 2001. Year Harvested area (ha) Yield (t/ha) Production (t) 1980 19,000 8.00 152,000 1981 25,000 7.28 182,000 1982 12,000 6.33 76,000 1983 11,000 3.82 42,000 1984 5,000 6.20 31,000 1985 8,000 2.13 17,000 1986 12,000 5.17 62,000 1987 10,000 4.60 46,000 1988 27,000 9.85 266,000 1989 10,000 6.30 63,000 1990 11,000 5.45 60,000 1991 11,000 5.09 56,000 1992 16,000 9.38 150,000 1993 9,800 5.23 51,292 1994 10,000 6.50 65,000 1995 12,410 6.60 81,950 1996 13,000 5.36 69,656 1997 10,056 7.68 77,266 1998 8,208 8.11 66,534 1999 14,003 16.32 228,512 2000 15,380 9.61 147,763 2001 13,590 10.47 142,262 Source: MAFF, 2001. c. Cassava cultivation practices The main adopted cultural practices for cassava in Cambodia are shown in Table 4. In the flood plain cassava is harvested just 6-8 months after planting; normally, when the flood waters recede, farmers stick the cassava stakes into the soft soil around November, and harvest before flooding occurs again in June. In the uplands, cassava is planted in the wet season and harvested after 9-12 months according to market requirements. In Kampong Cham province farmers can earn money from selling cassava for processing, so most farmers like to apply intensive cultivation, resulting in the highest average yield and production in Cambodia. Kampong Cham farmers rotate with soybean for improving soil fertility after 2-3 years of planting cassava, and they also intercrop some cassava in young rubber plantations. But in most provinces, cassava is mainly for human consumption providing little income, so cassava cultivation practices are limited to minimum land preparation, weeding and fertilization. MRT and T.T.Y. plantations plant cassava for their own tapioca factory. They did not apply fertilizers because the land is new, but MRT plantation harvested very low yields after three years planting in 2002. It means that cassava fertilization is also necessary in Cambodia.